Ok or “vale” as is said here with the v sounding like our b sound. I have remained extremely quiet during this madness of relocation, but I have had enough time now to absorb exactly what this means to me overall and I will shout it all out here!

First off, Gary has done a remarkable job dealing with the frenzy where I have done everything from sobbing to hysterical laughter.  When we finally arrived in front of our airbnb, I was excited  just to be finally in Cordoba, after the craziness of our trip.  Here we are at our destination for the moment.  We opened the street side gate and were greeted by a long tunnel with a light at the end but not in an epiphany way.  From there we went up a flight of stairs to the entrance of our abode and found a kind welcome sign directed to Donna who rented this delight.  We got the first gate unlocked, then the door and then began moving in!

During this process we actually somehow locked the gate with me inside and Gary out.  I had to message our host of our dilemma and was greeted by his son, who was kindly trying to remedy the situation without speaking even a word of English.  This was a high school guy, and i was certain English was taught in school here, but likely only to those that chose the credit.  It took a few minutes but i was soon released and Gary could re-enter.  We chuckled about it and made sure we never used a key on that damn gate again!

It was that evening while cooking dinner in our adorable kitchen, and I am not kidding here, it really is cute.  We did discover that you can not have on three mini splits and an oven as this tripped a circuit and pitched us into total darkness.  I sent another message to our poor host who was now realizing he should never have rented to these two crazy previous New Mexicans and their three pets.  Once again the young son came to our rescue and we discovered the breaker was located down in the tunnel.  Noted!  Have I mentioned wine?

The bed is comfortable but we were soon to learn the sun doesn’t rise here until well after 8 am and the bedroom is in the interior of the apartment with no actual daylight.  Oh my.  Could this have been any more different than our bedroom in Santa Fe?  Uh, no.  We were making several needed adjustments to our previous lifestyle.  Did I have any regrets? Well outwardly no but inwardly my angel and devil were at odds and I was not yet sure who might win.

The pets have adjusted nicely, however our tiny male cat has taken to staring up at the hall ceiling for hours on end.  I do believe he whispered he could see dead people, but i have chosen to ignore this, at least for now.

We are adjusting.  We discovered that indeed businesses close for the “siesta” hours between 2-5.  This takes some getting used to.  We have learned it is a rough hike to let the dog go pee in the morning that is still dark after emerging from the dark tunnel.  I do need another cuppa joe for that job.  The apartment is difficult to heat, something that i honestly never considered as we so take heat for granted.  All this marble flooring is great for the summer temps but radiates cold like a mofo.  We have it dialed in now, but it has been over a month.  

In this past month we have found a great local bar and bartender who tolerates our rough portrayal of his beautiful language.  Gary has a great accent which can get him into trouble pretty easily as the recipient of his communication actually thinks he speaks Spanish!  HA!  But he does much better than me.  I am of a mind that maybe the adage of “you can’t teach an old dog, new tricks” might apply to me, but I keep at it.  I certainly know how to order genebra and tonica.  You can guess that one.

The past few weeks we have had some amazing trips in our rental cars touring the towns around Cordoba.  The history is so unbelievably rich it feeds one of the main reasons we chose this area.  We have discovered this was not the easiest lifestyle change, and every day remains filled with mystery and challenge. Yep, we abide.